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Australian venues rank highly in growing 2018 international concert business earnings

The ongoing growth of the global live entertainment industry in 2018 saw gross revenue surpass US$2 billion from the Top 10 tours for the first time, with Ed Sheeran attaining the highest gross ever recorded for a touring artist in a single year.

Sheeran and the nine other acts included in the Top 10 on Pollstar's annual Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart all topped $100 million in sales during the year.

Sheeran, along with other Top 10 acts Taylor Swift, Pink, Bruno Mars and Roger Waters, each toured Australasia during the year, with Sheeran's performances at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium, which generated gross income of $26.7 million (US$20.9 million), the third largest international box office takings of the year.

Sheeran's performance at Sydney's ANZ Stadium earned $25 million (US$19.9 million) to be ranked sixth on the Top 100 international box office earnings while P!nk's Rod Laver Arena performances in July and August earned $27.3 million (US$20.2 million) to rank fifth.

Among promoter's Michael Gudinski's Frontier Touring was ranked the world’s third seventh top selling business, and Australia’s largest.

Pollstar listed Chugg Touring at 47th in its Top 100 international promoters and TEG Dainty at 61st.

Pollstar's list of the world’s top performing concert venues saw New York's Madison Square Garden replace London’s O2 arena as the top performing venue with 1,115,480 ticket sales. Australia's top performing venues each saw significant rises in ticket sales during 2018, with Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena the world's 10th best performing venue, and the top performing venue in the region, in terms of ticket sales.